Nailing mechanism



J. B. HADAWAY NAlLING MECHANISM Filed March 26, 1923 for a heel seat nailing machine.

Patented Oct. 25, 1927.

ED STATES eme mFFmE.

JOHN B. HADAWAY, or swzilvrrsco'r'r, MAssAcrrUsnrrs'AssIenon 'ro unirnn SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, or PATERSON', NEW JERSEY,: A GORPORATIONOE NEW JERSEY.

' NAILING' MECHANISM. I

Application filed. March 26, 1923 Qsria1no. 627,743.

This invention relates to nailing'mechanisms and is of particular utility in connection with shoe nailing machines. 7 I

It is desirable that certain of thentacks and nails which are driven into a shoe in the course of its manufacture should be toed in, as it is called, at a substantial angle in order to insure against anyof their points being deflected outward and emerging from the side of the shoe. Thls 1s conspicuously true of the nails which are drlven in the heel seat portion of the shoe and, in the illustrative machine herein disclosed in detail, the invention. is embodied in a die The object of the invention is to provide an improved mechanism which will .drive I nails or tacks 1n such a manner that they,

will enter the work in a direction at an angle to the direction of the force applied to the driver or drivers and which shall, therefore, make practicable the attainment of the desirable results above indicated, without the necessity of tipping the shoe during the nailing process, as is the common practlce when using a loose nailing machine in the performance of this operation.

Unsuccessful attempts have been made 1n the past to drivenails or tacks in the manner stated, by using nailing dies having nail and driver guiding passages comprising two or more portions angularly related to each other, but the breakage of drivers was so great that such devices had to .be abandoned. wire or rod and are sufficiently resilient to withstand fleXure through a very considerable total angle in a smooth, or gradual curve, but any attempt repeatedly .to bend them abruptly at any one point inevitably results in breakage. Y

The present invention solves the diflicu lty by providing a nailing die having a curved nail guiding passage, as distinguished from a nail guiding passage composed of straight elements joining at an angle. 7 In the illustrated structure the nail and driver guide comprises an integral tube whose longitudinal axis is bent to a convex curve. .When a plurality of curved nail and driver guiding passages or elements are arranged in converging relation, as shown, a gang of nail drivers, corresponding in number, is pro- The drivers are made of steel g ang-nailing maybe readily performed, with the nails toed in: as desired.

vOne.satisfactory practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a heel seat nailing die;and Y Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same 4 be formed witha spherical portion 16 at its .upper end. 7 1 V I Aflhemispherical seat 18 is formed in the upperfside o'f'the die block" 10 at the upper end of each of the chambers 12, and similar hemispherical cavities are :formed in the .lower face of a cover plate 20-which is secured to the block and serves ,to retain the balls 16 in their respective seats. The longitudinal axisof each of the tubes 14 is con 'vexly curved asis clearly shown in Fig' 2. .While the curvature of the bore 22 of the tube which constitutes the nail and driver -iguiding passage, may or may not extend the full vlengthof the tube, it is important that it be. gradual and smooth anddevoid of any sharply diverging or re-entrant portions. It is to be understood that the. expression specification ,and .the following claims, is used in the accepted geometrical sense, as deiiningfa curve which cannot be cut by a single stralght line at more than two points no matter how far produced, and distinguishing: from a re-entrant curve the direction of the flexure of which changes.

i. In the, illustrated construction the nail and driverguides are 'arranged to converge downwardly anchwhile their mountings are such as to permitthem to swing freely about the centers of their spherical upper ends 16,

rotation is prevented by a pin 24: projecting fromthe ball 16 into a vertical slot 26. The

slots, 26 are arranged radially with respect to the nailing pattern and constrain the,

curved tubes 14 to swing in their planes of curvature. The plate 20 is apertured at 28 conveXly curved., wherever used in this The upper end of the guiding passage 22 is flared, as shown at 34, sufficientl to insure inanent distortion of the drivers, which are sufficiently resilient to cause them to become straight when withdrawnfrom the guiding passages. i

40 indicates a pat-tern plate which is detachably secured upon the under side of the die block 10 and is provided with a frusto-.

conical opening 42 for the lower end of each of the tubes 14. .It is contemplated that a set of such pattern plates, having different desired nailingpatterns, be provided, the pattern plates being readily interchangeable whenit is desired to change fromone size nailing to another. It will be understood that, by reason of the fixed pivotal axis about which the tubes. 14; swing when their adjustment is changed, a change of the nailing pattern from one size to another will change the degree to which the drlven nails toe in and that the nails will toe in more in shoes of small sizes than in those of larger sizes, which is desirable.

The under sides of the various pattern plates 40 are hollowed out, as shown at 44 to fit the heel seats of the respective sizes of shoes and in practice, the proper plate 40 for the shoe to be operated upon having been selected, the shoe will be jacked u against the concave surface 44 against whic the outer sole 46 will be pressed. The required number of nails may now be driven through the outersole 46, the inturned edges of the. upper, counter andlining 48, 50, 52

and clenched on the inner face of the insole 54. j

While it is apparent uponinspecticn of the ordinary nail drivers, such as those shown at 32, that they may be easily bent into a considerable curve, practical advantage of this characteristic has never been takenheretofore, possibly because'of the impracticability of drilling an axially curved guiding passage int-he solid nail blocks which have been used. The utmost, that has been accomplished in this direction was the drilling of straight holesjoining at an angle and, as previously stated, this was found to exert a destructive bending upon the drivers.

By employing integral tubes as nail and driver guides it is comparatively easy to bend them to the desired smooth, continuous curve through which the drivers will operate readily withoutdamage andthus, for

guides through which said drivers are movable, and means for applying force to all of said drivers in the same direction.

2. In a shoe nailing ni achi11e, the combination of a plurality of solid, normally straight, substantially parallel, resilient drivers, a corresponding plurality of convergently curved guides through which said drivers are movable, and means for applying force to all of said drivers in the same direction.

3. In a shoe nailing machine, a nailing'die having a plurality of curved nail guides each having one of its ends located at the work; engaging face of the die and being mounted for pivotalmovement about a point at its opposite end. a V

4. Nailing mechanism having, in combination, a curved driver guide, a normally straight, resilient driver arranged to enter and move through said guide, and means for pivotally supporting said guide at the end at which the driver enters.

5. 'Nailing mechanism having a curved nail and driver guide which isangularly. adjustable, in the plane of its curvature, about a. point at one of its ends.

6. Nailing mechanism having, in combination, a smoothly curved driver guiding passage, and a solid driver normally of a shape different from that of said passage and sufficiently resilient to follow the passage without permanent distortion of the driver.

7. Nailing mechanism having, in combiu nation, a curved driver guiding passage and a solid normally straight resilient driver having sufiicient flexibility to enable it to follow the passage and sufiicient resiliency to cause it to become straight when withdrawn therefrom. y

8.A nailing machine having, in combination, a curved driver guiding passage, a solid normally straight, resilient driver arranged to move in said passage, and a rectilinearly moving driver actuator. 9.. Nailing mechanism having a curved nail guide which is angularly adjustable, in the plane of its curvature, about a point in 1ts axis. v

10. In a shoe nailing machine, a nailing die having curved nail guiding passages constructed and arranged to cause nails to enter the shoe at different angles to the sur 130 face in shoes of different sizes.

11. In a shoe nailing machine, a nailing die having curved nail guiding passages constructed and arranged to cause nails to toe in more in shoes of small sizes than in those of larger sizes.

12. A nailing die having curved nail and driver guides mounted for pivotal movement about separate points remote from the Work engaging face of the die.

13. A nailing die having a driver guide comprising an intregral tube Whose longitudinal axis is bent to a convex curve.

14. A nailing die having a nail and driver guide comprising a tube Whose-longitudinal axis is bent to a convex curve, said tube 15 having a spherical portion by which it may be supported for pivotal movement.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

' JOHN B. HADAWAY. 

